Sundancin!

The Sundance Film Festival has come and gone once again. For the fourth (!!) year in a row I made an appearance at the fest just to hang out and enjoy the atmosphere (and hey if I happened to meet James Franco or Joseph Gordon-Levitt that would be okay too...) It's true...I'm a shameless hopeful celebrity spotter. But alas. I've not seen any celebs at the fest yet in my three years...or have I? The first year I thought maybe I'd briefly seen Colin Farrell, another time I thought perhaps I'd caught a glimpse of Ewan McGregor...but I can't be sure on either. But that didn't stop me from creating some terrible photoshop pictures haha! This year though I definitely didn't see anyone famous, real or imaginary.

As an avid movie lover, of course the celeb watching isn't the only reason to go. I always have wanted to see the flicks, panels and music. The first year we went we even got tickets to a movie screening, but....because we were late... because of a miscommunication *cough*Ann*cough* our tickets were given to those in the standby line. I've never been as organized to get them ever since....Sundance just always creeps up on me and catches me by surprise, and I never have the patience (or know how haha) to do the standby line. It's a shame because there are some great movies that appear at the Sundance Film Festival.

Had I had the foresight in 2009, I could have seen my all-time favorite, (500) Days of Summer, almost six months before the rest of the world. But a lot of Sundance releases take longer than six months to finally get out. At the last festival in 2010 I was really interested in seeing Blue Valentine and that didn't finally come out until December. Also today I finally saw the TRAILER (gosh that took a long time) to a movie that debuted last year too called happythankyoumoreplease, it was written and directed by Josh Radnor, the guy from How I Met Your Mother and looks to be right up my indie alley. I always read through and keep a close eye on the films that go through Sundance and wait for their release. Ha if they're good I think "Dang I could have seen that way back when no one had even heard of it" and if not "Oh I'm glad I never saw that."



Someday I really will take advantage of the great selection of indie movies, but I'm afraid that year was not this year. And that is a dang shame...especially since the festival featured what could possibly be the greatest premise of all time. The plot is this: A couple is a month away from adopting a cat and, with this realization that their lives will radically change, they decide to quit their jobs, disconnect from the Internet and embark on new endeavors that test their relationship. Narrated by the cat that's causing all this change. NARRATED BY A CAT!!! I can't wait for this one! Hehe. On another note, I would also really love to attend a panel about editing too sometime :) In fact, next year if I remember early enough I may just even volunteer or look for some work during the fest. Why not right?

But like I said, even though I've never been fortunate enough to see a movie or undoubtedly see a celeb hanging out at Sundance is just fun...well most of the time at least! I remember the first time I went my besties Anna and Ann accompanied me. Ann forgot to bring a coat (! Oh Ann...) and Anna was really grumpy until we got some food in her. Then we ended up getting stuck on the bus for...well forever it seemed like! A guy offered us tickets to see the U2 movie that was playing that year...but he only had 2 and there were 3 of us. Dang. But we remained loyal to one another and said no. We also got to listen to some dudes say they partied with Jack Black. Dang.

Last year I was so fed up with parking I just parked in a Grocery store lot and headed straight to Main Street. Then Amelia said "Wow I'm surprised you're willing to risk being towed." Me: "what now?" Amelia: "Didn't you see the sign that said they'd tow you immediately if you were parked in the lot?" Me: "Noooo!! That information would have been useful to me an hour ago!" Haha so that time I was pretty stressed... But this 2011 outing I think was the most pleasant. Anna, Amelia and I did some nice window shopping and had a nice hot meal to warm us up. The highlight? Posing by a moose and a guy cheekily shouting "Hey nice rack!" Not sure if he was talking about me, the moose, or Anna. But either way he's right. Haha! Walking down Main Street is just fun...even if the celebs are always hiding in the bars or in their own movies. Maybe someday I'll get to meet that Gordon-Levitt boy :)

Also, one last thing. Can I just say that I love movies? I'm so glad I was able to go to Sundance at the end of one of the worst weeks in recent memory. Movies, to me, really are such a gift. I love being able to learn from someone else’s' life experiences and their interpretations of those experiences that they put into a really well done film. I absolutely love being able to lose myself in watching a good film...especially when life can sometimes be something you want to escape from. There's always something you can find that can bring you some happiness....even if it is only for 2 hours or so. So hooray for the great things (and great people!) in life that can get you through the hard times...let's hope those hard times don't last too long!